It's all a pun I guess

Polly Bottle. Junior. Cow Mom. Ice Cream Queen. What can I help you find today?

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[nicolippijimenez]

He was going to interrupt, but he’d done enough of that lately and it kept getting him into trouble. Polly saying she valued him was more than he felt like he could handle. He didn’t deserve her trust or her kindness but he ached for it. “You’re the real prize, Polly. Not that you’re like an object, but everyone loves your company. Trust me.”

Nico nodded his head. Her observation made sense. The store wanted laws and Polly wanted a different system. He could handle that for now, as long as there was some regularity to what they were doing. “My bad.”

Wow. She must be really excited to keep him around if she was going to pull out the guava card. Although why people were so indifferent to one of life’s greatest fruit and cheese combinations was beyond him. “Yeah, that’s a good one that sounds natural to everyone else. Although if someone asks what guava is, you have to take the question. I can’t answer without judging people. Not when it comes to guava.”

He squeezed her hand softly. “Listen, my family is Puerto Rican and Italian. I can handle yelling. Really. It’s not so bad, it’s the disappointing you part that kills me.” Nico hadn’t meant to be that honest but he really didn’t want her getting confused here. “The trust and the hope, that’s what’s most important about our relationship…store relationship, y'know.” He’d bungled that one. “You need to be optimistic, you’re the sugar to my vinegar. I want to hold onto that.”

[pollybottle]

Polly's cheeks were flushed so much they hurt. "I don't think anyone actually knows my company, Nico. Except my family and you. I should work on that, I know. Now that I have more hours free."

"Doesn't matter whose bad it is but thank you for saying so." She could be magnanimous like that now that he was more manageable. But not actually manageable because she wasn't a manager.

She laughed, nodding. "Duh. But it's West Ham. Almost no one has taste. You have to lower your expectations." But then she paused. "Actually, don't lower them too far. I need to up mine."

The Sugar to Nico's Vinegar. Why did she suddenly envision that on her tombstone? Her cheeks really, really hurt. "Well, the yelling hurts my voice so I need to either learn how to do it better or not do it. Maybe I can ask Rumi or Claude for some tips. And I trust you, Nico, I do. I think that's part of why i was mad at you."

Were her cheeks going to explode? They were probably going to explode. "Maybe... Maybe we don't have to define things in terms of the store anymore. Just as, you know, an experiment. We can value the Dairy while also, you know, figuring out who we might want to be without it. Without losing it." She added quickly to reassure him. "No risk of that."

[blairjha]

This optical illusion wasn’t changing. The same could be said for the horizon line, but at least he’d feel like he was making progress. You could reach the end line of a field before you reached the border of an acre. But nothing changed. Blair was doing a running man—a tiptoeing man—and not getting anywhere. The poor lighting and the quiet trees made Blair feel like he was on a moving walkway in an airport to nowhere.

He froze. Good balance kept him from toppling to either side, but his foot was suspended in the air when Polly reached him again and yanked his sleeve. For me.

Blair didn’t have any siblings, but Polly was close to one as he’d ever get. He would listen to her, especially when it sounded like she was about a minute from crying.

“Yeah,” Blair heard himself say, forcing his eyes from the tricky trees and blinking hard. He felt better looking away and focusing on what Polly wanted. Split, store, sleep. He could do that. “Yeah, okay.” He let the momentum of her grip carry him forward, then draped his arm across her shoulders automatically and squeezed gently. “Sorry.”

“Do you think Nico’s already there?” Blair wondered. “Should we call him?”

[pollybottle]

"Thank you." Polly said, every word a long exhalation of relief. She walked Blair back a few feet just for good measure. She was still trying to parse why she was so upset at the prospect of the trees, but somehow exploring that felt even more dangerous. So she bit her lip, eyes still on the trees until they fully turned away.

She let his arm on her shoulder calm her as they made their way back up the road. She resisted the urge to use her cellphone as a flashlight. She knew a thing or two about questionable access to power, so she was reaching into her pocket to turn off her phone just as Blair asked about Nico.

"If he's there, we'll see him. Or he'll try to attack us with a broom when I unlock the door." She smiled awkwardly, taking solace in the dark. "Either way it will be a fun surprise. Is Jacks thrown? I think I would feel better if Jacks wasn't thrown. Or does it just make business boom because everyone's nervous. Or tired. Or--"

Her phone beeped. She blinked down at the text message, confused. She knew Tony had her number because he would ask for specialty items but being on a group text with everyone just felt like so much work. She held it up to Blair so he could see Tony's invitation. "Duty calls? Or do you get a break for..." She didn't know what to say. Mourning? Weirdness?

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[nicolippijimenez]

Nico’s feet stilled as Polly touched him. They didn’t touch very often. It wasn’t appropriate in most circumstances. But underneath the shock, there was a comfort to her touch that was different than what he was used to. He tried to talk her words in as carefully as he could. She didn’t look at him as a monster. That was a relief, but it didn’t entirely fix the situation. “I don’t want to hurt you at all. But you just said that I treat you horribly and I never wanted that. I thought that…” he was more outspoken than he meant to be most times, but now his throat felt thick, “If I defended the store from harm, that’s like keeping you safe. It’s stupid. I get that. That was just my thought process.”

The rest of what she said made sense. He’d never really had an off switch, but by embodying his job he had sort of been able to delay the rising panic. It did also mean that he didn’t feel entitled to take a break. “Okay, I can try that. It needs to be something natural but not something we say a lot. I really want less confusion between us.”

There had been a gap between them since this whole thing started. He felt it. Not only were they not always working in the same areas, but they had completely different ideas on how to handle things. The gap was finally, thankfully, starting to shrink. He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “I don’t want to quit. I want to be the…store clerk you want me to be. And I can try to be that if you give me a bit more direction. Promise.”

[pollybottle]

"Yes, but the way to stop hurting me isn't to leave. Leaving hurts too. It's very silly to think that it wouldn't. And very unkind to you, since you're presumably assuming that your company isn't valued." Polly looked down at his hands. "Because it is. Very much."

She supposed she understood his reasoning now, after a fashion anyway. "I get it. But the store and I don't always agree so that's not the best tack to take, you know?" It may have been odd to say that the dairy was a living thing with its own thoughts and feelings. But it wouldn't have been odd to Nico, and it comforted her so much to know that.

"Um." She swallowed. Something natural that they also didn't say a lot was a bit of a tricky ask. "Maybe 'Are we out of guava?' " Nico knew that it was her favorite gelato to make, but it didn't seem to appeal to many as it sat between so many more understandable and ultimately more aggressive flavors. "I know you would never say that normally as you wouldn't want to mock my pain but I give you permission." She felt her cheeks growing hot. "Unless you have something you like better?"

Polly was growing to realize that she liked when Nico touched her. She generally didn't like when other people did. Cricket and Lou had made some overtures. As had Trip and Heli. She'd said she was flattered because it was what you were supposed to say, but really all she'd ever felt was confused. How had they attached those signals to her, she always wondered. What part of her apron or her braid with butterfly barrettes had at any point said that? But as Nico ran his fingers over hers, she felt safe to know nothing was going to be asked. Nothing was expected. It was simply a gentle reminder that he was there. "I will try to think of some direction. Or, rather, I will try to voice some direction before I'm yelling at you. Or squeaking. My yelling sounds a lot like squeaking, I now realize."

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[nicolippijimenez]

Nico took several steps away from Polly so he could pace. He needed some space to figure out how he felt or he was going to do something stupid. Something else stupid. He’d already messed this up way more than he intended. It wasn’t entirely his fault, though, pretty much everything he said lately seemed to be the wrong when it came to Polly.

“I don’t care more about the store than you. I just wanted my delusion in peace.” Not everyone could handle losing the one bit of stability that kept them sane in an increasingly dangerous household. He sighed. This still wasn’t coming out right. “I don’t want the stupid dairy. I want my life back. I want rules. I want a plan to escape my family. I want to know what to expect each and every day. That’s what I want.”

He was walking faster, but it allowed him to think a little bit slower. “I’m sorry you’re hurting. I wish I could help, but as you’ve reminded me I am bad at people. I antagonize them without meaning to. I want to be your friend, but I genuinely don’t know if that’s possible right now.” His feet stilled. “Because of me. Not because of you. You are a very kind gentle person and the world will bend whichever way you need it to. I am none of those things, but I made a promise to myself that if it ever turned out I was in a position to harm someone I would remove myself from that. So…I guess I quit.”

No part of this felt like the right thing to do. Polly was his closest friend. The store was his second home. He didn’t want to leave any of it behind. But if they couldn’t talk to each other without arguing, it was just going to morph into his actual home all over again. And he wouldn’t do that to them. She deserved so much better. “I will call Cricket though, you shouldn’t lose this place to the smell of sour milk.”

[pollybottle]

"The world doesn't bend to me." She said, sniffling. "It ignores me. That's not the same thing."

Her heart hurt for him. What he was asking was impossible, and they both knew that. He just had to stop taking it out on people. And himself.

"Nico." She said softly, grabbing both his hands. "You're not in a position to harm me. No more than any other person raised as a boy." She leveled with him as best she could considering the height difference. "Not raised as a Lippi-Jimenez. Raised as a boy. I'm trying to tell you why I'm scared in general. Not why I'm scared of you. Because I'm not. It sounds like we've both been hurting each other because we're hurting and I don't want to do that anymore. Do you?"

"Maybe we need like... a code word? Something that says 'Hey. I'm getting revved up, can you take over or can we just take a break?' I feel like..." She looked down at his hands, embarrassed to be holding them but also not wanting to let go. "I think when you deal with customers all the time it can be difficult to remember you can just say 'I'm not doing that right now' in your actual life. If you get mad, or irritated, or tired, it's okay to take a break. We have all the time in the world." Wow she missed island time. So much.

"If you want to quit, that's okay. I have no right to ask you to stay. But please don't do it because of me. I'm okay, I mean." She paused. She needed to model good behavior, didn't she? "I mean. I'm extra not okay but that's not because of you. You help, really, like 85% of the time. Which is a good percentage. a solid B. And I think if we figure out a code word, it'll be even better. Not easy. But better. And I want to try. If you want to try. But we have to give each other the benefit of the doubt, alright?"

[blairjha]

“Coming in.” Blair pointed. He wanted to touch the trees that caught her eye, each fluttering soundlessly like Blair and Polly wore noise-canceling headphones. These trees didn’t look real tonight. Somehow he kept thinking of the fakes dutifully spread across the school’s stage for its productions. Same ugly props, same ugly costumes, year after year. Some of the oldest ones looked like they got actual mold now.

“I just want to see,” Blair said, more to himself than anything. The dark could play tricks on your senses—everyone knew that. They’d had a long useless ride and an even longer ride home. People were tired. They didn’t look at things the same way that they did in the daytime. It was an optical illusion, Blair thought, squinting into the darkness. If he could just find the right spot, the right reflection of light back on his phone, he’d see her house. He’d see his house. The spots wouldn’t look fake and mysterious.

He couldn’t let Polly cry much longer. Yet he couldn’t wait until morning.

“I’m just gonna check,” Blair told her with a certainty he didn’t feel. His shoes crunched louder as he started walking toward the wall of trees. Were he and Polly were bringing the noise back to them? Was this a dream he cooked up while knocked out on the field? Blair usually didn’t mind not knowing something. Trying to get home was making him feel…something he didn’t like. “Be right back,” he called over his shoulder to Polly.

[pollybottle]

Polly watched him go, her fingers tingling with nervous energy. The gap between the winds and the woods was unsettling, and the longer she spent without Blair beside her the more unnerved she became. She was trying to be brave. Really she was. But she'd always been a bit of a scaredy-cat. It came from having an older sister who was exactly the right age to bother when she was nervous and parents who came from areas where thunderstorms were genuinely terrifying. So she tried to keep her voice level as she reached out over the abyss. "Blair. Please come back. We can look in the morning."

She wringed her hands. He was taking too long to turn around. She was picturing awful things in the woods. Awful things that had eaten her poor cows and poor chickens and poor ducks.

Then she decided she wasn't going to give him a choice about it. She marched over and tugged on his sleeve to prevent him from going any further. "I have to check on the store, and we need to figure out where we're gonna sleep. Come on." She tugged him back toward the road, eyes pleading. "For me."

blairjha:

Blair paused.

Stood still. Waited and waited some more. Polly wasn’t one for pranks—and if she was, Blair never knew—nor was she someone who looked comfortable lying. But it didn’t click the light on his brain. What she was saying was another language, another filter with a voice-changer and a music cue. It didn’t—it couldn’t exist on its own, couldn’t support itself outside of a prank she wouldn’t do, or a lie she wouldn’t tell.

But he looked past her, squinting into the darkness, not wanting to prove Polly wrong but to prove himself right, that she wouldn’t say something like that for no reason.

There was a reason. He hardly heard the noise of his bag dropping as it went one way and Blair went the other. He followed the road with the toes of his sneakers, worrying at pebbles and dust on a route he had known since he’d called the farmhouse home.

Where was his home? And Polly’s? Only the goofy mailbox remained.

Swiping his thumb across the screen of his phone, Blair watched the flashlight glow to life. “Maybe it is possible,” he said, turning halfway back. Fever dreams and nightmares only ended if you ventured deeper and tried to figure them out yourself. His sneakers crunched over the dust as he approached Polly again, clocking the tears when her face fell beneath the light. He couldn’t walk her to her door, not right now, but he could keep her company—and safe, if need be. Getting her to stop crying wasn’t in his wheelhouse, though he did try to soften his voice a lot. “Coming?”

[pollybottle]

"Coming where?" Polly sniffled. "You don't think..." She stepped closer to the trees inch by inch. The leaves waved softly in the night breeze, but she realized she couldn't feel the wind. She could only see it.

"Blair, look." She pointed to the trees, then her cheek. "We should be feeling that, right?" One of her favorite things about their shared property was the way the wind rolled over both field, mingling the smells of home (well, the cow smell wasn't very pleasant, but that wasn't their fault, and there weren't that many.)

But that smell was gone too.

She peered as deep into the darkness as she could, but somehow it seemed as she looked closer, the shadows only grew deeper, like a hallway lengthening in a nightmare. That had to be her imagination. Had to be.

"I don't like this." She said, in the understatement of the century. She needed to stop crying. She forced herself to stop crying. "I think we should wait for the morning, Blair."

She reached up to wipe her eyes. Nope. Still crying.

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

nicolippijimenez: Nico flinched, but Polly didn’t hit him. She did call him an ass though, which was almost worse. His family’s love language was violence, that made a lot more sense to him than this level of disappointment. “Why would the grocery store be haunted? Ghosts aren’t real.” And then his brain broke. Polly suggesting that he should be up there, in the area with the bed…where she was…was almost certainly sexual harassment. He was pretty sure there was a Bottle video somewhere about the topic. “I would never do that. That’s a breach of the employee-employer relationship.” When Polly compared herself to a cow, he hide a laugh behind his fist. It was almost too apt of a comparison. He didn’t know what to do with that level of frankness. “You can be whatever you want. Also, I’m pretty sure that Heli is also pretty uh…soft was the word you used, but I feel weird saying it that way. I’m not asking anything of you. I am just trying to do my job. Mine. Not yours. You do yours however you want.” But she just kept pushing. He wanted to roll his eyes or maybe tear out his hair, but neither felt appropriate or affirming. Why did she have to make everything so freaking complicated? It was supposed to be simple. “Yes, I’m very aware that the world has ended, but I would like to pretend it hasn’t. I don’t know why this is such a sticking point for you. Like I said, you do whatever you want. Just let me have my delusions.” There was a lot to unpack in her next charge against him and he wasn’t sure he liked where things were going. “I would never hurt you. I’m not a violent person, I’m a bag boy. It’s like you don’t even know the first thing about me.” He staggered backwards. Nothing could have hurt him more. “I…I’m going to take a leave of absence.” He couldn’t work with her if she thought that was possible with him. He had done so much to escape the ties that bound his family to the Alessis. The grocery store was supposed to be his one truly safe place to escape that. Polly had just brought it all crumbling down. “I can find out where Cricket is and tell him to come over, but then I’ll stop bothering you.”

[pollybottle]

"Because--" Well, she didn't really want to get into a theological discussion right now, especially when she'd been thinking about death far more often in the last two weeks than she had in her whole life. "Some people think ghosts are real. Or get scared at the thought that they might be. Maybe it's less frightening than the idea of a home invasion for them. I don't know."

Polly's cheeks flushed so quickly and so fiercely that she felt like her face was burning. "I didn't mean... I didn't say that!" He was so good at finishing her thoughts before she did. Often she found it comforting, but now it just left her wondering if she really had been thinking it in the first place.

She felt like he was miles down the road and yelling at her for being too close to him. She'd said she was scared, and his response had been to tell her to stop and/or be offended that she was at all. She wished Annabelle was here. Ani always helped her understand her frustration even when it verge to anger that frightened her, but she was alone. She was standing right next to someone who was supposed to be her friend and she felt so utterly alone. "It's not about what I think you're capable of, Nico. It's about the privilege you have. I'm not insulting you. I'm trying to explain... I..."

"I don't want you to find Cricket. What I want is my friend. My friend who understands that I care about him and that's why I'm angry. Because I thought you cared about me. Because I thought you'd care that I was hurt. Because I care that you're hurt." Her voice hurt. "But you care more about the store than me. Or you, for that matter. You're more than this. I'm more than this. But sure. You want the Dairy? Take it. Hope you treat it better than you do me." She put her keys on the checkout counter.

[blairjha]

wewerechildrenwerenotnow​:

Phase : During (The Event)

There was a time when the most stressful thing the students of West Ham High had to worry about was cabin assignments. All the usual tension and panic, the negotiations of who would give up which bunk for which hookup, it seems so small now. They boarded five buses in the late afternoon. Kissed / Hugged / Ignored their parents goodbye. Headed for the Smoky Mountains. Darkness descended, and sleep carried them away.

They woke to a lurch in the road, a curve taken a bit too fast. A grumble about a rock slide on the route. They all needed to go home. They disembarked. The buses sped away. Far too fast.

Far too fast. 

The kids looked around. No parents. No siblings. No other living souls. No connection with the outside world. 

What to do, what to do? Cry, search, fiddle while West Ham burns? For the first time, it’s up to them. And who knows if the sun will come. 

So press play, and go. 

It took a lot to annoy Blair.

He could put up with plenty. Had to. Charges down the soccer field, penalty kicks, hat tricks, the farmhouse when it was crowded, invisible expectations, customers getting stingy, Jacks on a roll about that rich person and that rich person—and she always knew when he wasn’t paying attention. He faced everything like a brick wall.

Which is why the bus thing was…not a big deal, at least to Blair. The Smoky Mountains weren’t going anywhere. Why waste energy getting upset? Listening to Malcolm telling Wes how relieved he was that he wouldn’t ruin his new Jordans (an early graduation gift) on the trails, Blair texted the family groupchat that he’d be home after he caught up (or stood next to as she vented) with Jacks for a bit.

Nobody answered, but that wasn’t a surprise. You had to be an early riser if you lived anywhere near his cantankerous grandfather, who seemed to take daylight as a challenge and never liked to lose. Blair often found himself the only one awake in the farmhouse most nights (much to his regret in the morning, a lesson he didn’t want to learn). He strode down the sidewalk, stuffing his headphones into his bag and not paying attention to where he was going until a flicker of movement drew his eye.

Annoyed, he wondered, or not? His favorite neighbor had her back to him.

“Did you get lost?” Blair called to Polly shaped person in the darkness. Could be. The Bottle and Mackenzie lands adjoined and were separated only by fencing, but at night it was anyone’s guess who owned what. “Want me to walk you to your door?”

@pollybottle​

[pollybottle]

Polly’s eyes hurt. She rarely cried. There was rarely anything to cry about. She didn’t like sad movies or sad songs really. She’d always felt like she had no right to be singing them in the first place. That was why when she did cry, it felt like her eyes were about to fall out of her head. 

She’d been standing in the road for God knows how long, frozen at the point where her driveway diverged from Blair’s. Hers was almost a mile long, through fields of strawberries, potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Her father had always made a point to keep the taller crops behind the house, so it was a “clear shot” up the road, as he liked to say. But that was what made it worse. She knew where her house was supposed to be. Where the greenhouse was, and the nursery. She knew she should be hearing the soft calls of her cows at this hour, reminding everyone that they needed to be milked. But there was nothing. Just wind in the trees. Trees where her house was supposed to be. It didn’t make sense. Not at all. So she’d stood there, frozen, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do, who she was supposed to call. Her dad wasn’t picking up. Nor her Mom. Nor Ani. Nor her Auntie or Tutu. She had to assume that whatever had taken her house had taken them. 

She’d run across the road, sprinting towards Blair’s house, but it was the same. Like it was never there in the first place. The gravel just gave way to undergrowth. Swallowed by some great forest beast. The trees did look like teeth in a way. Long and ruthless. 

She trudged back to her own driveway, running her fingers over the cow patterned mailbox her mother had painted many years ago. Bottle Mahi’ai it said. It was a pun actually, Mahi’ai was her mother’s maiden name, but it also met farmer in Hawaiian. Bottle Farm. The mailbox was all that remained of it. That and a emaciated looking day lillies clustered around the post. 

The tears were falling again now. Stinging and sharp, reminding her that she was supposed to drink water. Her mom always said that. It used to annoy her. But now she would give anything to be nagged. She barely felt Blair’s presence until he was nearly on top of her. 

She turned slowly, sniffling, eyes still wet. “It’s very nice of you to offer, Blair, but I don’t think that will be possible.” She struggled to find the words, but all she could do was point into the darkness. 

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[pollybottle]

nicolippijimenez​:

“You’re not the boss of me.” Well, she kinda was. “I mean,” he kicked the ground softly with his shoe, “You’re the boss of me at the store, but if you take that away I don’t have a lot of options. It’s not really up to you to decide where I land.” That was between him and Elena, if she could ever take the time to be around and talk to him.

He didn’t know what to say as she kept going. She’d always seemed friendly with people so he assumed they were friends. And hobbies related to a job were still hobbies. But if it mattered to her that those things were the same then he could treat them like that.

“That’s not true,” his voice came out way too loud, “It’s…sorry. I noticed, I just figured you were staying with a friend because when I was slee…doing my nightly rounds outside the store, I never saw any signs of life.” He’d nearly screwed himself with that one, but he hoped he saved it. He saved part of it, at least.

“I can’t take away something that isn’t mine, Polly. You have the keys. You make the decisions. You get to decide everything. Literally no one cares about my opinion and that’s fine,” It bothered him a lot but for the sake of argument it could be fine for right now, “because at the end of the day it is yours. Immutably.”

“We can’t be equals because you hold my job in your hands.” He could have sworn the Bottles made him watch a video about this. Had they skipped the video for Polly? “I don’t think you’re a doormat, I think you like people more than they deserve that’s not the same thing.” She was talking herself in circles again and he just couldn’t handle it anymore. “Whatever you say, boss.”

He waited patiently at the door of Bottle’s Dairy for her to unlock it, underscoring the point that it was hers. He had a sister that resented him when she could bother being around and a home full of his family’s oppressive ideology. This was supposed to be his sanctuary, but she was right. It wasn’t his to take.

Polly was still trying to figure out how to communicate to him that he wasn’t trying to control him. If anything, he was trying to control her. But then she paused, staring at Nico, unbelieving at his accidental confession. “Wait. That was... that was you?” She nearly smacked him on the shoulder before she remembered that was only a thing she and Annabelle were supposed to do to each other. She’d gotten her arms under control but she couldn’t control her voice, sputtering “I THOUGHT THE DAIRY WAS HAUNTED YOU ASS!” She really had. Every time she went up into the small attic of the 18th century building, curled up on the camping mattress, she was sure she’d heard something, downstairs. Something horrible. A ghost or an animal or a teenage boy who wasn’t Nico or Blair. “You could have just come upstairs. There’s...” she trailed off. There really wasn’t room. There was only one air mattress. “You should have told me at least. I was this close to calling Geli.” 

She had just finished unlocking the door when her hands flew to mouth. “Ohmygod. I cursed. Ohmygod. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Dad’s gonna be so mad.” Ani would be pleased at least though. She cussed like a sailor.

“I care about your opinion. That’s why...” her voice cracked a little. “That’s why it hurts when you don’t listen. Or you try to tell me how much I should like people. Because I would like to be the person you want me to be, I think. I’m just... not. I’m soft or sensitive or naive or whatever. I don’t know. I’m not Heli Fusco or whatever. Maybe I’m just the human equivalent of a cow.” She could be proud of that at least. Cows trusted people. They were innocent and sweet and social. Honestly, her cows probably had closer ties between each other than she did with anybody. 

“If you don’t think I’m a doormat stop stepping on me.” She had to hold herself back from telling him to stop calling her ‘boss.’ She had technically said it was fine, hadn’t she?  “I don’t hold your job in my hands! We’re in the apocalypse. Nothing means anything! Everything’s breaking down. Literally!” She gestured vaguely to the pitch dark store. “The generator isn’t working. Cricket said the generator would work no matter what. He could have broken it when he was fixing it. Maybe whatever psychotic person put us in this snow globe shook it or whatever! But I’m pretty sure that means no one has to accept any part of what came before.” 

Maybe it was the darkness. Maybe it was her disappointment or her fear or any number of the mess of feelings that was welling up inside her. All she knew was she had to keep talking or she would burst. “Which is why I’m even trying to intervene with you. Because you’re a boy, Nico. You’re a foot taller than me. Do you know what it’s been like, low key panicking whenever someone who’s bigger than me comes into the store? They can take anything they want. And you, technically, can take whatever you want. So stop acting like you don’t have power here. You do. My dad’s not gonna come in and fire you and save me. I’ve been living in the freaking loss prevention video for almost two weeks. How am I supposed to prioritize my safety when the people who take things are literally hurting everyone else? Meanwhile, you keep antagonizing people!”

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[pollybottle]

nicolippijimenez​:

“I don’t need to explain anything.” Nico took the deepest breath he could manage. Why did she need him to talk everything out? The store was in danger and she didn’t even think about the repercussions of that. It was infuriating. 

He realized almost immediately that admitting that had been the wrong choice. Even he could acknowledge that he wasn’t the easiest person to get along with lately. But he never expected Polly to go on a tirade about that. 

A shiver of panic raced through him at the idea of losing the store. He’d already lost most of his family. Elena was a ghost in his house. He couldn’t lose more. Not right now. He really couldn’t. He might get desperate for purpose and go to…no, he couldn’t talk to Polly about that. He didn’t have anyone to talk to, did he? 

“I thought I was communicating.” He licked his cracked lips, “You probably won’t get Cricket right now because he runs the full grid. I’ll help you and then if you really want me to leave, I will.” It would kill him inside, but he’d do it. She was right. It wasn’t his store. 

“I’d like to come back to work at some point. I have a very simple life, okay? I go to the store, I go home. I sit in the dark and wait for Elena to make an appearance. It is literally the only thing I have right now. And I don’t expect you to get it because you have friends and hobbies and stuff. But the store was like the one rebellion I had from my family’s whole way of life and if I lose it, I might have to give into their ways. And I don’t want to.” 

He felt like he was saying too much. His dad would be so upset with him for giving this much away. “You’re unhappy, though, so I’ll fix it. The fridges.” He couldn’t fix the rest. “And I’m sorry. About everything else.” 

“No. You will explain or you’re not coming back into my store.”  Polly had never felt her voice drop this deep. It kind of hurt. 

But then he answered. Sort of. It was a lot. All of it. It was emotional and vulnerable and then he was saying sorry in a way that she actually believed him. Polly took a slow, deep breath. 

“No one’s giving in to your family, Nico. My parents wouldn’t allow it, and I wouldn’t either.” The Lippi-Jimenezes always gave Polly the heebie-jeebies. She never had a full picture of what they did, just a general icky feeling that didn’t carry over to Nico at all. She’d have thought he was a cousin or adopted or something, but his older brothers looked so much like him it was uncanny.  “I know you care about the store. I know what it means to you. It means a lot to me too. You have Elena. I have no one. I don’t have friends. I have customers who like me because I remember their favorite flavors. They might invite me to things once or twice but then I have to work and I can’t go so they don’t invite me the next time. Those aren’t friends. And all my ‘hobbies’ involve taking care of my animals who are gone. I don’t even have a house, Nico. And I’m not acting like an...” She sort of had to force the words out. “Asshole.” She swallowed. Her throat still hurt. “ And no one knows I don’t have a house because no one noticed. Aside from Blair, since he doesn’t have a house either.” Really, Blair was the closest thing she had to a friend, but that had always felt like a matter of proximity as well as shared experience. “I understand needing the store. But that’s why I can’t let you behave this way. You don’t get to take away the one thing I have because you don’t like the way I’m running it.”

“You weren’t communicating because you weren’t listening. You don’t have to agree with me. You just have to hear me first. Discuss it like I’m your equal. Please. We talked about this already.” She’d never thought of Nico as one of those toxic masculinity people. She got enough stoicism from Blair and peacocking from Cricket or whatever other nonsense strolled up to the counter.  “I’m not a doormat just because I’m nice, and I know a lot of stuff people don’t give me credit for. So if it takes me being the boss for you to respect me, you know what? Fine, I’m your boss. But don’t talk to me that way. It’s not the way you should talk to anyone let alone a--- a friend. And that’s what I prefer you be. A friend.” 

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

So the brightest minds in New Ham are bickering about guinea pigs, the government can’t decide how long they should take to read things, and some people want to know where Noah is. Others want to know why the fuck they should care.

But hatchets can be buried, peaces made. Secrets forgotten, people disappeared. Nothing helps like a party.

It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it. 

So press play and go.

[pollybottle]

(continued from link)

Polly slid backwards, barely sidestepping Nico as he stumbled, her large eyes wide. “You need to explain to me what’s going on right now.” Nico was always weird. It was part of his charm. But he was scaring her. (If she was honest the whole situation was scaring her, but she felt like every time she admitted an inch of nervousness, he took a mile.)

“You’ve been acting so...so... freaking weird and I don’t know if you would tell Dad and Mom or Ani, but you should tell me. Because we’re supposed to be friends. I don’t want to be your boss, I’m not trained to do that. It’s not ethical.” She sniffed, drawing a lock of hair away from her sweaty cheek. She’d been so excited to skate. But now she was just sweaty, tired, and mad. Usually if she was that she at least had gotten the calves back in their pen. “You know, if I was your boss, I’d fire you. You don’t do what I say. You don’t communicate, you don’t listen to me. Friends talk that stuff out. Bosses don’t. So if you don’t want to explain, fine. I’ll call Cricket and he’ll listen to me. And he’ll help me. I can take care of myself, and I can take care of the Dairy. And I don’t want you there if you don’t believe that!”

@nicolippijimenez​

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Ten

It was only supposed to be a picnic. It was only supposed to be an interview. It was only supposed to be a supply trip. 

It was only supposed to be a dinner. 

But something has shifted. 

The stars have moved. 

So press play, and go.

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

When is comedic relief not a relief? When murder is involved.

Continued from here

Keep reading

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Ten

It was only supposed to be a picnic. It was only supposed to be an interview. It was only supposed to be a supply trip. 

It was only supposed to be a dinner. 

But something has shifted. 

The stars have moved. 

So press play, and go.

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Things get testy when scientific ethics enter the fray. And then the guinea pig shows up…

Continued from here

Keep reading

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Ten

It was only supposed to be a picnic. It was only supposed to be an interview. It was only supposed to be a supply trip. 

It was only supposed to be a dinner. 

But something has shifted. 

The stars have moved. 

So press play, and go.

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Dante brings the best minds of West Ham together to solve some problems. There are more problems than they anticipated. 

Keep reading

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Name: Polly Mahi’ai Bottle Face Claim: Auli’i Cravalho Played by: Lil Birthday: April 5th Family: Eddie Bottle (Father - Freddie Prinze Jr), Tala Mahi’ai Bottle (Mother - Kelly Hu), Annabelle Bottle (Sister, age 21) Friends: Blair (childhood friend), Nico, Viv, friendly with all the regulars Romances: What. (Asexual) Hobbies/Clubs/Social Circle: She works at the Dairy and on her family farm. That’s what she does. 

Polly is the one who stays at home. While her older sister Annabelle is the biggest badass around - a surfer, farmer, and Jeet Kune Do practitioner, Polly lives up to her mother’s maiden name - Mahi’ai. Farmer. She stocks shelves, takes care of cows, and makes ice cream. She’s very good at it, and it makes her very happy. So happy that sometimes she could sing. But it doesn’t go much further than that. She doesn’t want to bother the customers. At least the cows like it. 

Polly doesn’t leave the store and the farm. They’re her whole world. Usually that’s the good thing. She gets to hang out with Nico and meet lots of interesting people. It lets her parents have work-life balance, and she learns a lot. It doesn’t bother her. Really. The farm was in the unincorporated area between East and West Ham so it’s been swallowed by the trees. But the Dairy still needs protecting. Even if she’s not equipped to do that in the least. Polly won’t be bullied. But she always responds with her best customer service smile.

Follow Polly here!